Hans looked down towards the floor to see the light spilling
out from under his bed. Hans stabbed blindly at the button to bring the blinds
back down and hoped no one would notice the light coming from his window before
they could close fully. Taking a deep breath, he leaned down to peek under his
bed at the artefact. Tears came to his eyes as he attempted to look directly at
the light that was streaming out from under his bed.
Hans sat there for a moment and tried to wrap his head
around what was happening. He needed to douse the light, but there was no way
that he could get close enough to it with how bright it was right now. Grabbing
a blanket, he threw it under the bed, hoping to get it on top of the artefact.
He knew he was successful when the light dimmed slightly. It was just enough that
so that he could look under his bed without any pain. He dragged it out and
wrapped the blanket tighter around it to douse the light a bit more.
Hans sat on the edge of the bed, holding the bundled
artefact, entirely unsure what do with it. A glance at the time told him that
he had two hours before he needed to get up for work. There was only one thing
he could think to try at this point. Squeezing his eyes shut as tightly as he
could, he unwrapped the artefact and threw it as hard as could at the wall.
Almost at the moment he heard the second thump of the
artefact hitting the floor the light stopped. Hans opened his eyes, blinking at
the afterimages that the light had left behind and stumbled his way towards
where it had fallen, split into two again. He hit the button, hoping that this
would stop whatever he had started and stood back as the artefact put itself
back together again. There was no beep this time and he hoped that was a good
thing.
Hans looked down at the artefact and back at his bed and
sighed. It was too much excitement for him to get back to bed now and far too
many worries that he was left with. He bundled up the artefact in the blanket
again and shoved it as far under his bed as he could. There was only one thing
he could think to do now and that was to go to work.
Even though his morning had gotten off to such a rough
start, Hans was enjoying the silence of an early morning in the office. He was
able to get all his daily admin duties done before the first person walked in
for the day. It was a nice change for him to have all his work done before he
had to do any lessons or charters. He even managed to get a few extras done as
well as looking into a way to be able to get back into the cavern and still be
able to see.
So far there was nothing that he could find that would do
the trick and not cost him an arm and a leg. There were a few things he had
thought about that would work, but it was all military technology and he knew
no one that owed him that big of a favour and could keep their mouth shut. It
was really starting to seem hopeless. What he really needed was help.
“In early today.” Duke managed to sneak up on him once again
and Hans jumped at the sound of his voice.
“Yeah, couldn’t sleep.” Hans pushed aside the display and rested his
head in his hand. “What can I do for you Duke?”
“Just wishing you a good morn is all and I wanted to touch
base about that long haul charter to five-C-four with those miners.” Duke walked in uninvited and sat in the chair
across from Hans. “Seems Nav has come down with a bit of the flu and won’t be
in for a few days. Everyone else is booked right up.”
“I can fly it by myself then I guess.” Hans closed his eyes
and took a deep breath. “We need to get someone hired pretty quick, maybe two
someones.”
“I’m on it, but you can’t fly that charter yourself. It’s
too long of a haul, not to mention that ship requires two pilots on it. And
company policy is clear on that one too.”
Hans looked up at Duke and bit back the anger in his voice.
“Well what else can we do? We can’t cancel that charter. It’s too large of an
account.”
“I’m not just a pretty around here Hans. I may be the head
mechanic and your right hand man, but I am certified to fly – I just usually
don’t.” Duke scratched at the stubble on his chin and frowned. “I don’t like
flying, but I can do it and you need a co-pilot. End of story. Marietta can
handle ground operations while we’re both gone.”
“Yeah, okay.” Hans glanced at the time. “Guess we’ll start
the pre-flight check in about an hour or so?”
“Sounds good.” Duke stood to leave and then squinted at
display. “Thinking of going for a star walk or something?”Hans glanced at the display, he still had his last search up on it. “Just planning a vacation to a sunny destination. I’m light sensitive.”
“Really? Have anything to do with your last vacation?” Duke
reached out and pulled the display over so that he could see it better. “Hmmmm…”
Hans stood up and yanked the screen away from Duke and
turned the display off. “What do you think you’re doing? Seriously, Duke, what
is it?”
Duke planted his hands on the desk and leaned forward. “We
may have come to a bit of a truce, but I know something fishy when I see it.
Ever since that incident over the Mantou Islands you’ve been acting strange and
slightly distracted.”
“What I do in my free time is none of your business.” Hans
kept his voice low and mirrored Duke’s stance, leaving less than a foot between
them. “And frankly, I could officially reprimand you for your behavior right
now, but I’m not going to…this time.”
“This time? Oh, really?” Duke glared at Hans. “And what
about you using work time for your personal little secret? Maybe I should
report that?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Hans gritted his teeth. It was
getting to be a challenge to keep his voice low.
“I’m not the one being ridiculous here. You are up to
something, I know it, and I am going to find out what it is.”
“It’ll tell you what it is. It’s none of your business. Now
get out of my office and I’ll see you for the pre-flight check at 0900h.”
Duke stormed out of Hans’ office, slamming the door behind
him. Hans slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes. He hadn‘t intended to
make an enemy out Duke again. It was the last thing he wanted right now with
having to already hide his tracks from the Armed Forces. He turned the display
back on and stared at blankly at the screen.
“Dammit!” Hans slammed the screen aside and kicked at his
desk. He really didn’t need this sort of headache right now at all. Duke was
going to be a problem and like or not he was going to have to deal with it
right now instead of later. There was only one solution he could think of to
make it all work out in his favour and that was to tell the truth.
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